Shandong launches cross-border e-commerce train services

A Qilu Eurasian freight train loaded with cross-border e-commerce goods departed from the Qingdao multimodal transportation center on June 25 for Minsk, Belarus, making it the first special cross-border e-commerce train in Shandong province.

Operated by Shandong Hi-speed Group, the train carried 100 standard containers of daily necessities, such as small household appliances, household goods, kitchenware, lamps, fishing gear, tents, and umbrellas, worth about $4.3 million.

The train will exit the country via Manzhouli, China's largest land port, and arrive in Minsk, Belarus in 15 to 17 days.

According to Qingdao customs, a single bill of goods worth less than 5,000 yuan ($774.5) and not involved in certification, inspection, and tax can be cleared through the unified cross-border e-commerce export system with simplified procedures.

"A series of preferential measures make it more convenient for small, medium, and micro cross-border e-commerce export enterprises to declare goods through this mode and reduce their customs clearance costs," said an official from Qingdao customs.

Qingdao customs has set up a special window to handle customs formalities like declaration and clearance for China-Europe freight trains to improve efficiency and service quality. The customs has special working teams to ensure smooth customs clearance of China-Europe freight trains around the clock.

According to official statistics, the Qingdao multimodal transportation center launched 260 Qilu Eurasian freight trains, carrying 21,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of goods in the first five months of the year, up 83.1 percent and 118.4 percent respectively compared with the same period last year.